When they weren't traversing the country in covered wagons or subsisting off provisions like hardtack, crackers, dried fruit, and coffee, frontier families actually knew how to throw it down in the kitchen. Johnny Cakesbhofack2/GettyImagesFrom "vanity cakes" to "Johnny cakes," the Ingalls had a number of names for the different baked goods they made. By winter, frontier families would preserve some of that meat by smoking, salting, or drying it into jerky. Of course, when times got tough—typically during the colder months—and fresh game meat was scarce, frontier families resorted to their salt pork stashes, as well as smaller animals like rabbits, squirrels, and even snakes. Frontier families had something similar: stew.